By Sergio G. García
QUECUANDO
Lee el artículo en español
Mallorca has always attracted artists to its shores, not only for its luminosity but for its particular 'colour filter', which produces singular pinkish shades on its mountains. This gave birth to a prolific art movement on the island at the beginning of the 20th century, attracting the likes of Hermen Anglada Camarasa (1871- 1959), John Singer Sergeant (1856 – 1925) and Santiago Ruiseñol (1861 – 1931), among others.
Hesitating at first, Finnish painter Ulla Villoria(@ullavilloriaart) visited the island four years ago at the invitation of a friend. She thought she was not going to like it so much and instead, she fell in love with it. Since that moment, she has been sharing her time between Switzerland and Mallorca, where she has been producing her latest collection.
She started her painting career on impulse in 2003, enrolling in different painting classes using the Beppe Assenza painting method and an art program influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s methodology in Dornach, a small village 10 km away from Basel, in Switzerland. She embarked on a new version of herself when her children left home and embraced an intuitive, spontaneous phase of her life, which she has been portraying onto her canvasses since she started painting.
"Inspiration to paint came during my meditation and yoga practice, at a cross road of my life, when I had time to myself," explains Ulla Villoria. "I submerged on an abstract world where I could touch, smell and interact with colours," she adds. So she learned to create her own, which gave her the freedom to come up with more vivid and intense shades, adding pigments to them to highlight their intensity.
"When the Sun Meets the Sea" - Ulla Villario - Acrylic with pigments - 2 Paintings - 70 cm X 70 cm
"I started using black ink at first, which I converted into different shades, but when I came to Mallorca, I experimented with brighter and vivid combinations, like 'forest' green, 'sunny' yellow and 'sea' turquoise," she elaborates. "These three are always present in my palate, with different tonalities to capture the richness of each colour as I see it in Nature," she says.
"I feel free when I paint," she states. "I often sit in front of a blank canvas, waiting for the appropriate image to 'show up' and inspire me to bring it from the world of the ideas," as she admits that in this process she gets 'touched by the muses', as time 'disappears' before her eyes.
Once she finishes working on her canvas, she lets it 'talk to her' to determine if it needs further work or not. Only then is she satisfied with the finished product. "I let intuition guide me," she reveals.
Mallorca has played an important role in her life, and in a way, its light remains her of her sunny childhood summers back in her native Finland, where she enjoyed the feelings of careless freedom, and when curiosity and spontaneity were her driving forces. It is in Mallorca where she has produced her latest collection, 'Sea and Sun', which she will be exhibiting through her website www.ullavilloria.com and her Instagram (@ullavilloriaart) in the next few weeks.
"I feel free when I paint," she states. "I often sit in front of a blank canvas, waiting for the appropriate image to 'show up' and inspire me to bring it from the world of the ideas," as she admits that in this process she gets 'touched by the muses', as time 'disappears' before her eyes.
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Ulla Villario's inspiration source is the distinctive filter of Mallorca's light and its majestic turquoise waters
"Breaking Through" - Ulla Villario - Acrylic and pigment on canvas - 50 cm x 50 cm
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